Posts Tagged ‘Firaxis’

Last week, I visited Firaxis to talk about the studio’s history and the ongoing evolution of Civilization. We mainly focused on the series of games rather than humanity’s works as a whole, so as to stay on topic, and I spent part of the day playing Beyond Earth. Is it a sci-fi spin-off or a fully fledged sequel? How precisely is it related to the series and to the much-loved Alpha Centauri? Later this week, I’ll share conversations with the development team and more thoughts on the history of the series, but first of all, here are some impressions of the game itself.

Joking about booking time off work for a video game’s release is awfully hackneyed, but I have known people to do it for two series: Grand Theft Auto and Civ. So, just so you know, Civilization: Beyond Earth now has a release date so WINK you might want to WINK book time off work or WINK consider laying the dramatic groundwork for a WINK illness to strike you on October 24.

The news comes alongside a new video with Beyond Earth’s co-lead designers talking about the kinda-Alpha-Centurai-ish-but-really-more-Civ-y game, over footage that’s mostly cinematics but does give a few tantalising peeks at things including the new web-like tech tree.

By which I mean, eight minutes. Yes. I’m not entirely sure of the provenance of this video, and how much of it has or hasn’t been seen before because, y’know, YouTube but in any case I am more than down for a decent stretch of footage’n’chat from Firaxis’ upcoming alterna-Alpha Centauri, Civilization: Beyond Earth.Read the rest of this entry »

Is… Is this E3 news? On day three, I can’t tell anymore. Did Sid Meier swing on a trapeze across the E3 concourse to announce that Civilization 5 was now available on SteamOS and Linux? Did Aspyr gather the world’s press in an art deco theatre to reveal that this was their first Linux port, after years of porting popular games to Mac? Or is it the case that there was a simple post on Civ V’s Steam forum to declare that users of Ubuntu could now begin conquering 4X strategy worlds?

Someone’s finally making an Alpha Centauri successor! Kinda. Civilization: Beyond Earth takes Sid Meier’s famed turn-based strategy series (that Sid Meier only kinda works on these days) and flings it into the stars like a colonial frisbee. I got to play a little at a recent 2K preview event, but not enough to render much of a verdict other than, “I really want to see more than just the first 50 turns,” “The affinity system is neat,” “Roaming alien creatures that may or may not attack add great tension,” and “Discovering this universe will be really cool the first few times, but I doubt that part will hold up 5 or 10 games in.” It also kinda feels a lot like Civilization V at the moment, but again, I only got to play the early parts of a match.

Afterward, I stuck around and had a nice chat with co-lead (yes, co-lead) designers Will Miller and David McDonough, and we talked about why Beyond Earth really isn’t Alpha Centauri II at all, why Firaxis decided against making a direct successor to Alpha Centauri, striking a balance between old-school Civ and more “dramatic” games like Civilization Revolution, games shaping history/culture, mod support, and massive man-made brain monsters that look like jello molds.

Perhaps I’m unfairly stereotyping Civilization fans, but I broadly imagine that they’re the type who’ll eagerly watch a panel of developers talk about the next game for half an hour, then perhaps rewatch it, wringing every last fact and morsel of information into their dry eyes. What I’m trying to say is, the panel discussion where Civilization: Beyond Earth was revealed is now online in talkie format, and I imagine you might like to watch it so I’m posting about it on Rock, Paper, Shotgun where you might see it.

This is news worth working on a weekend for. Firaxis have announced Civilization: Beyond Earth, a spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri. There’s an announcement trailer below, which doesn’t show any of the game but does set the scene. (The scene is of me, rubbing my thighs at all the spaceships). Also, it’s due out this “Fall/Autumn” which i) is not far away at all and ii) it’s nice that they wrote both Fall and Autumn because it makes me feel included as a non-American.

The release of Civilization V: The Complete Edition rather suggests we’ve reached end of the line for Firaxis’ latest history-spanning strategy game, and thus can start drawing up our mental wishlists for Civ VI. Though if I’ve learned anything in this business, it’s that there’s any number of final-sounding suffixes left in the game names cupboard. Be braced for Civ V: Ultimate, Civ V: Director’s Cut, Civ V: What They Couldn’t Show Gandhi Doing In Cinemas, and Civ V: In A Different Box.

Back to that shortly, however. The Cool Thing happening off the back of this new omnibus edition is a new and free Civ V scenario that’s being given to existing and future Brave New World owners for no-pennies. Said scenario is also a little bit Colonizationy (but only a little bit).Read the rest of this entry »

I spent a lot of time playing Civ IV mods, particularly the splendid Fall From Heaven, but I’ve only tried a couple of alterations to Firaxis’ most recent entry in the series, and don’t think I’ve downloaded a single one since installing the two excellentexpansions to the base game. That all changed this weekend, when a post on PC Gamer drew my attention to the work of modder framedarchitecture, who has created several historical scenarios and a huge Forgotten Realms total conversion. The Faerun mod requires the Gods and Kings DLC and will disable Brave New World when used, and it adds just about everything you could want from a Dungeons and Dragons themed Civ game.

Enemy Within is a proper expansion – like in the olden days – for last year’s XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which was a very different reworking of 90s ultro-classic X-COM: UFO Defense. This time around, we get robo-folk and genetic modification, and one giant leap further away from XCOM’s parentage. Good idea/bad idea? Let’s find out!

Saving the world with a big, pink, French cyborg: this perhaps isn’t the XCOM expansion we asked for, but I think it’s the one we needed.Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been playing unfinished code for major XCOM expansion Enemy Within.Here are some early impressions for you.

XCOM has a confession to make. All this time it’s been carrying on like it’s a militaristic strategy game (albeit with aliens and robots and psychics), but really, really it’s been a superhero game all along. With major expansion Enemy Within, it proudly rips open its shirt, throws its spectacles to the wind and brazenly displays the lurid spandex beneath. My current squad, for instance, is led by a Mexican in a bright pink mech suit, wearing a matching tribly. He can spray flames from his hands. He can leap over small buildings. He can seep healing gas from whatever’s replaced his pores. He is, in short, about as far away as soldiers get from the mopey-looking, meandering dudes in overalls who characterised X-COM.

With Enemy Within, XCOM and X-COM almost entirely part company. While that’s a statement that would have seen 2011 me immediately take my seat in the Angry Tank, here’s why 2013 me is absolutely convinced this accentuated divergence is only a good thing.Read the rest of this entry »

I was away when body-horror XCOM expansion Enemy Within was announced, so that means you’ve tragically been denied my thoughts on it. Clearly, I am outraged that Firaxis are going to pervert their beautiful and unique snowflake with CHANGES and I beseech you to sign my online petition demanding that they cancel months of work immediately and develop a 100% faithful remake of Terror From The Deep instead.

Nah, there isn’t a game I’m more looking forward to right now. I can’t wait to play it. I’m especially enamoured of the idea that now is when they truly make XCOM their own game instead of beholden to its noble origins, and the new soldier-modding stuff sounds fascinating. A smaller added feature is that they’re offering the option to deactivate what’s something of a Firaxis house rule – pre-determined outcomes, regardless of how many times you reload the game.Read the rest of this entry »

XCOM: Enemy Within escalates the alien invasion, introducing body modification, sky-squids and Mechtoids. After seeing the initial reveal at Gamescom, I was eager to try the expansion before release, but when I had the chance last week, I hadn’t expected to see humanity turning on itself. XCOM have encountered a new threat and this one originates much closer to home.